Shut Up and Rescue Me
by Miss Aircastle
Summary: In which James comes to the rescue to save Lily, who has managed to get herself into a bit of trouble. Except his girlfriend is not exactly the grateful damsel-in-distress he might have hoped for. [L/J Oneshot]


**Shut Up and Rescue Me**

 **A/N:** So this story came to me some time ago, when I first heard "Shut Up and Dance" by Walk the Moon. I thought the lyrics were "shut up and rescue me" and immediately wondered what would happen if Disney princesses used that line. It has stuck in my head for some reason and I typed it out this afternoon, because Lily may not be a Disney princess, but she's probably the best reluctant damsel _ever,_ bless her.

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Shut Up and Rescue Me**

"Do not worry any longer, fair maiden, your hero has arrived!"

Hands on his hips in a dramatic pose, James Potter was standing in front of one of Hogwarts' greenhouses. On a first glance, there was no one to be seen, but after a few seconds, he heard a very familiar voice answer him, drifting downwards.

"Really Potter, that's your line?" Lily asked flatly, obviously not as swept off her feet as he'd hoped.

He dropped his heroic attitude and crossed his arms in mock annoyance.

"Don't you go all sarcastic on me, Evans. Damsels in distress cannot afford to be picky about their rescuers." He still couldn't see her, so she was probably hiding further down the roof.

"I'm _not_ a damsel. And I'm not in distress."

"Yes, you are." James snorted, secretly grinning at his girlfriends' stubbornness.

"No, I'm not."

"Why don't you come down then?"

It was silent for a moment.

"I can't." He almost couldn't hear her.

"Why not? How did you get up in the first place?" James took a few steps backwards to see if he could spot her somewhere. And sure enough: she was sitting on the highest top of the roof, one hand clenched around a broom. She looked downright miserable and James wanted to jump on the roof to make it all better.

"I wanted to –" she started, but then she saw him looking up at her. She blushed and looked down. "Never mind, James. Just go away, I'll figure something out."

James sighed, not for the first time clueless as to what was going on in her head. The girl was independent to a fault and she would probably sit here until the end of time. Well, not on his watch.

With a flick of his wand he transfigured a twig into a ladder and propped it up against the side of the greenhouse. He swiftly climbed up, took a few steps and then sank down next to her. Slowly, like approaching a wild animal, he reached for her hand.

"So," he asked carefully "want to tell me what's going on? Not that I'm not enjoying our sunset rendezvous, but something tells me this was not the plan."

"No, this was not the plan." She confirmed, still firmly staring ahead. After a moment of silence she sighed and met his eyes for the first time. "I was trying to give flying another go." She smiled a bit sheepishly after her confession.

James did a double take at this, frowning. "What, why? You're afraid of heights."

Her turn to look surprised. "How did you know that? I never told you."

James scoffed, almost offended. "In case you hadn't noticed: you're not dating an idiot, Lil. I can read the bloody signs." He ticked it off on his fingers. "You always walk on the wall side of a staircase, the only lessons you ever ditched were all of our flying lessons in First Year and to this day, you still refuse to snog me in the Astronomy Tower."

That last one made her smile, but she was mostly still staring at him.

"You know" She said, finding her voice again. "If I wasn't so terrified at the moment, I would snog you right now."

"Well, all the more reason to make sure you get both feet on the ground." James grinned, pressing a quick kiss on her cheek.

"Yeah." She shuddered. "You know, I really don't understand why you like this so much. It's terrifying, it's windy and cold and that bloody broom is uncomfortable like you wouldn't believe."

"Oh I believe you, don't worry." James snickered, thinking of all the blisters he'd had over the years – some in places like _she_ wouldn't believe. "But if you hate it so much, why did you do it in the first place?"

She blushed a fantastic shade of red and that made James curious.

He nudged her side a bit. "It's just me Lil, you can tell me."

"I know" she groaned, suddenly sullen again. "I know, and I will, but get me down first."

"Oh come on, we've been talking here for a while, and _now_ you're suddenly in a hurry?" James asked incredulously. "Spit it out, will you?"

She dropped her head on her propped up knees, so her voice sounded muffled. "Fine. Fine! I did it for you. Because you're always so happy when you've just flown, and you're always going on and on about it and I just wanted to see why. Wanted to understand how you felt. So I thought I'd try it. It was going well too, until I landed here and my fear of heights took over."

James could not believe what he was hearing. She did this for _him_? A million different answers ran around in his head, screaming for attention. He scooted closer to her and wrapped his arms around her, blurting out the only thing that mattered.

"I love you, you know." He could feel her answering nod. "And even though I really do not understand why you would put yourself through this, just for me, I think it's sweet."

"Well" she said, lifting her head again to look at him "it has probably something to do with the fact that I love you too. Or maybe because I like to punish myself, but I prefer to believe the first."

"Me too." He couldn't resist kissing her a little bit, just to let her know how much he appreciated the thought.

She broke it off quickly, looking a bit better. "But seriously, can we go down now?"

"Of course, love. So, how did you want to be saved? Do you want to fly down, or use the ladder? Or I could jump down, carrying you bridal style. Not easy, but that's what heroes do." He couldn't resist teasing her a bit. Her grumpiness was pretty adorable – but that was a secret he would take with him to his grave.

And sure enough, she was immediately frowning at him. "I don't care _how,_ just shut up and rescue me, will you?"

"Yes ma'am."

It took some persuading, but James managed to get Lily with him on the broom. Her arms were locked around him in a vicelike grip.

"Are you okay?" He asked over his shoulder.

"James, don't you dare look back!" she warned "I'm trusting you with my life here."

"It's okay" he said "just keep your eyes on me. We'll be down before you know it."

She practically pressed her face into his back, which was fine by him. Within seconds, they were safely on the ground.

Lily visibly relaxing, dismounted from the broom. After he'd dismounted as well, she flung her arms around his neck.

"As far as heroes go, you're not so bad" she whispered in his ear. He knew it was hard for her to admit this, so for once, he left out the clever remarks.

"You're most welcome." He answered, smiling.

"Now this is usually the part in the story where the fair maiden thanks the hero profusely for the rescue, but I'm a bit done with words." She said, playing with a strand of his hair in the nape of his neck. Her grin was wicked and he thought he could see a very pleasant future in her eyes. "Any ideas what to do?"

"A few." James nodded, his head already swirling with images.

"Well, let's go inside then" Lily said. She grabbed his hands and started to talk in the direction of the castle.

"You know, I could always fly us up to my dorm, it'd be way faster."

"You are _so_ sleeping on the floor tonight."


End file.
